Government distances itself from 'imminent' web blocking claims

Further web blocking measures will not be introduced by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) after it moved to distance itself from claims it would bring forward such proposals by business secretary Mark Prisk.

Comments made in the Houses of Commons by Prisk, who heads of the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) department, suggested the DCMS would be introducing new web blocking measures "imminently".

The DCMS issued now a denial, stating it had no intention to bring forward any such proposals, particularly as existing legislation offers the capability of blocking sites.

"Following the Newzbin case, rights holders can already seek injunctions to have ISPs block access to websites dedicated to copyright infringement under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act," it said.

"The government will see how useful this ruling is to rights holders but we have no plans to introduce duplicate legislation."

But it did admit that first draft of the new Communications Act is expected to have other provisions for clamping down on copyright infringements.

"The government is looking at other measures to tackle the problem of online piracy and these will feature in the communications review Green Paper, which will be published shortly," it added.

The statement from DCMS appears in line with current government thinking on web blocking as the government had already ruled out implementing such measures from the Digital Economy Act (DEA) in light of the Newzbin 2 ruling.